Coupeville athletes like Lyla Stuurmans spent much of 2022 earning awards for their stellar play. (Photo courtesy Sarah Stuurmans)
Things got historical.
As the last days of 2022 play out, a look back at the year that was reveals huge highs and crushing lows.
The biggest story was almost certainly Coupeville High School’s male athletes finally making it back to the promised land.
Both the Wolf boys’ basketball and football squads advanced to the state tournament in ’22, snapping 34 and 32-year dry spells, respectively.
Off the schneid, and it feels so good.
Brad Sherman’s hoops squad was the last unbeaten 2B team in the state this year, crunching La Conner in the bi-district title game to get to 16-0.
With a different leading scorer almost every night, and an aggressive defense anchored by the Marauding Murdy boys — Xavier and Alex — the Wolves win their first league title since Sherman was dropping three-balls back in 2002.
The bi-district win is the program’s first postseason crown since 1970, and Coupeville plays strongly against top-ranked Kalama and always-tough Lake Roosevelt in their first trip to state since 1988.
Xavier Murdy (front) and Grady Rickner clamp down on defense. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Jump forward to the fall, and the Wolf gridiron squad, led by first-year head coach Bennett Richter, roars to a 7-2 mark, claiming its first league title and trip to state since 1990.
Coupeville hosts 2B power Onalaska in that postseason clash and pushes the Loggers to the last play, despite losing starting quarterback Logan Downes to injury midway through the third quarter.
With that in mind, a reflection on the year on its way out the door, and other stories which captured our attention.
Hello and Goodbye:
A handful of Wolf coaches leave their posts, for varied reasons, and new leaders rise in the ranks to take their places.
Out the door – high school: Randy King (track), Paige Spangler (cross country), Kyle Nelson (girls’ soccer), Will Thayer (baseball), Marcus Carr (football), Greg Turcott (JV girls’ basketball).
In the door – high school: Bennett Richter (football), Elizabeth Bitting (cross country and track), Bob Martin (track), Steve Hilborn (baseball), Katrina McGranahan (JV softball), Kassie O’Neil (JV girls’ basketball).
Out the door – middle school: Katie Kiel (volleyball), Kassie O’Neil (girls’ basketball), Kristina Forbes (girls’ basketball), Elizabeth Bitting (cross country and track)
In the door – middle school: Raven Vick (volleyball).
Still the King:
Coupeville grad Kyle King, a five-time state champ who went on to be an NCAA D-I athlete, wins the 47th Marine Corps Marathon, besting a field of thousands.
The race is the fourth largest in the United States and ninth largest in the world.
Kyle King, at rest. (Photo courtesy Randy King)
Big brains, fast feet:
The CHS girls’ cross country squad wins a league title, makes it to state as a team, and claims an academic state title for having the best GPA among all 2B schools.
Helen Strelow, Claire Mayne, Cristina McGrath, Noelle Western, Erica McGrath, and Reagan Callahan are joined at state by Wolf boys Mitchell Hall and Carson Field.
They rule the school:
Junior Carolyn Lhamon (soccer, basketball, track) and senior Xavier Murdy (soccer, basketball, baseball) are honored as Coupeville High School’s Athletes of the Year.
It’s a repeat for Murdy, who also won the year before.
Better than the state champs … for a day:
Friday Harbor goes on a rampage on the pitch, riding a hot streak all the way to the first boys’ soccer state title in school history.
The Wolverines lose twice all season. Once to state runner-up, and defending champ, Orcas Island, and once to Coupeville.
It’s true.
CHS senior Aidan Wilson nets a hat trick, while younger brother Cael is superb in net as the Wolves shock Friday Harbor, and the prep soccer world, winning 3-1 at Mickey Clark Field.
Bad break on the hardwood:
There were numerous injuries, but the one with the biggest impact comes in January, when basketball sharpshooter Alita Blouin breaks her ankle during pregame introductions.
She misses the rest of the 2021-2022 hardwood season, and both Wolf hoops programs bar their players from jumping during future roll calls.
But once she heals, Blouin returns to star on the volleyball court, is named Homecoming Queen, and is now back torching basketball nets as a senior.
Alita Blouin launches a serve. (Bailey Thule photo)
Change in the boardroom:
Longtime school board director Glenda Merwine retires with a year left in her term, citing health concerns, and is replaced by tireless school volunteer Alison Perera, who is plucked from a field of six candidates.
The Torpedo hits pay dirt:
Coupeville grad Sean Toomey-Stout becomes the first former Wolf to record stats for the University of Washington football program.
A sophomore in his second season with the NCAA D-I powerhouse, he plays in six games, inlcuding the Alamo Bowl, making seven tackles.
Plus, Toomey-Stout smashes another barrier, landing on a trading card as part of a set featuring U-Dub players, coaches, and the team mascot.
International woman of mystery:
Makana Stone is gettin’ paid.
The Wolf grad is in her second season as a pro hoops star, first playing for Leicester in England and now suiting up for Baerum in Norway.
Stone pours in 275 points and snatches 193 boards as a rookie and currently leads her second squad in scoring as she and teammates vie for a league crown.
Makana Stone rises to the heavens. (Photo property Marianne Maja Stenerud)
All your titles are ours:
Coupeville claims conference crowns in boys’ basketball, softball, baseball, girls’ tennis, football, and both girls’ and boys’ cross country in 2022.
Toss in a district title for boys’ track and a bi-district crown for boys’ basketball and the trophy case is getting (nicely) crowded.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T:
Coupeville brings home league MVP awards thanks to Izzy Wells (softball), Xavier Murdy (boys’ basketball), Dominic Coffman (football), Hawthorne Wolfe (baseball), and Scott Hilborn (football).
Taking it to the next level, Murdy and volleyball spikers Maddie Georges and Alita Blouin play in All-State games, while Wolfe and Hilborn receive All-State honors for their work on the diamond.
Ja’Kenya Hoskins (left) and Izzy Wells enjoy each other’s company. (Katy Wells photo)
A net loss:
The CHS boys’ tennis program sits quiet for a third consecutive season, unable to attract enough players to form a competitive team.
The pandemic hurt, but Coupeville’s transition from 1A to 2B, with boys’ soccer moving from spring to fall — where football, cross country, and boys’ tennis also compete for athletes — has been a so-far fatal blow.
Rulers of the oval:
Coupeville sends 16 athletes to the state track and field meet in Cheney, with the Wolf boys finishing 7th in the team standings.
Ryanne Knoblich (high jump), Logan Martin (shot put, discus) and the 4 x 100 unit of Reiley Araceley, Aidan Wilson, Caleb Meyer, and Dominic Coffman claim 2nd place finishes.
When the official state meet is done, Martin moves on and also finishes 2nd in the hammer throw at an invite-only championship event.
Save your best shot for last:
Wolf senior Hawthorne Wolfe, denied a chance to make a full run at the all-time CHS boys basketball career scoring record when Covid interrupts two seasons, closes on a high.
Scoring 10 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter of Coupeville’s state tourney finale, he knocks down a three-ball for his final high school bucket.
That gives Wolfe exactly 800 career points — one of just 14 Wolf boys to hit that mark for a program which launched in 1917.
Hawthorne Wolfe, skippin’ through life. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Remembering those who fell too soon:
Throughout the basketball season, and also on Graduation Day, Coupeville students keep the memory of Bennett Boyles alive and close to their hearts.
The former hoops star lost a battle with cancer just short of his 13th birthday but is with his fellow Wolves in spirit as they finish their high school journeys.
Late this year, Wolf Nation is rocked when Lathom Kelley, a badass with an unexpected huge heart, dies in a boating accident days after his 25th birthday.
Coupeville’s football program remembers its wild child, and his giddy, full-throated embrace of life, beating Sultan after an emotional halftime tribute which includes current players giving the family Lathom’s #44 jersey.
Still at it, huh?
Milestones, they keep on comin’.
Coupeville Sports turns 10 years old Aug. 15 – a testament to me frequently writing at 2 AM in hopes of getting free cookies from readers.
Some days are easier than others, but the march towards story #10,000 continues.
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